Textile product



I Patented Apr. 28, 1942 TEXTILE PRODUCT George Schneider, Montclalr, N. J., assignor to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application March 2, 1939,

Serial No. 259,389

10 Claims.

This invention relates to the making of textile products, such as artificial yarns, filaments and fibers, that have improved textile properties.

An object of my invention is to prepare textile products such as artificial yarns, filaments and fibers whose luster or transparency 'is not materially different from ordinary textile products, but which have superior textile properties. Other objects of my invention will appear from the following detailed description.

I have found that if certain finely divided materials that are not soluble in or compatible with the base material of which the yarns or filaments are composed, are incorporated in proper amounts in such filaments, the tension exerted by the yarns or filaments while running over guides, needles and other parts of textile machinery is greatly reduced and as a result greatly improved yarn packages, woven fabric, warp knit and circular knit fabrics may be made therefrom.

In order not to affect materially the luster or transparency of the yarns and filaments produced so that they may have the appearance of ordinary fabrics, the finely divided substance incorporated should have an index of refraction not greatly different from that of the base material of the yarns and filaments, it should be finely divided, and should be incorporated only in restricted amounts.

This invention is applicable to the preparation or treatment of filaments which may be of very fine denier and which are associated together to form yarns. Other articles such as heavier filaments like bristles, artificial horsehair and straw, films, ribbons, bands, etc. may also be made in accordance with this invention.

The filament yarns or articles may be made of any suitable base material, such as polyvinyl resins or other synthetic resins, linear condensation polymers such as polyamides derived from amino acids or derived by the condensation of diamines with dicarboxylic acids, e. g. p lyhexamethylene adipamide, or it may be of the reconstituted cellulose type formed by the viscose, Chardonnet or cuprammonium process, but this invention is particularly applicable to articles containing organic derivatives of cellulose such as organic esters of cellulose and cellulose ethers. Examples of such organic esters of cellulose are cellulose acetate, cellulose formate, cellulose propionate and cellulose butyrate, while examples of cellulose ethers are ethyl cellulose, methyl cellulose and benzyl cellulose. The filaments or yarns fir containing the organic derivative of cellulose may be prepared by dissolving the organic derivative of cellulose in a volatile solvent such as acetone and extruding such solution through an evaporative atmosphere, as in dry spinning, or into a precipitating bath as in wet spinning.

As stated, the finely divided material employed is one that has an index of refraction not greatly different from that of the base material of which the filaments or yarns are made. Examples of such materials, in the caseof products made of cellulose acetate, are silicon dioxide (preferably silica gel), hydrated aluminum oxide or aluminum hydrate and calcium magnesium silicate (Montax). The finely divided material may be either of inorganic or organic nature, provided that it is insoluble inthe base material of the products, and is preferably insoluble in and does not react with the spinning solution, or solvent therein or reagents with which the material comes in contact during its formation or in subsequent treatments such as dyeing to form undesired compounds.

The amount of finely divided material incorporated in the products is of importance, since if too little is used, the valuable advantages of my invention are not attained, while if too large an amount is used, it will cause impairment of the luster or transparency of the product. I have found that generally good results are obtained by employing an amount of finely divicl'ed material from 0.2 to 1.5% and preferably 0.5 to 1.5% of the weight of the base material. The exact amount will vary with the nature of the finely divided material, larger amounts being permissible the more closely its index of refraction appreaches that of the base material.

The insoluble material should be in finely divided form having a diameter of say from less than 0.1 to 10 microns. One way of obtaining this fine state of division is to grind the material in water, oil such as diethylene glycol or olive oil, but preferably in a solution of the base material in the solvent used in spinning. e. g.

. a 10-14% solution of cellulose acetate'in acetone.

1 have found that the best results are obtained when the insoluble material is finely divided by subjecting it to a squeezing, rubbing or kneading actionwhile dispersed in a plastic mass; which preferably comprises the same material as the base of the yarns or filaments to be prepared. Thissqueezing, rubbing and kneading action may be performed in the kneaders and heated malaxating rolls ordinarily employed for making cellulose derivative plastics.

In incorporating the finely divided material,

it maybe added to the spinning solution at any convenient time. Preferably, however, it is added prior tothe usual filtration through a series of filters before spinning and thoroughly mixed. However, the finely divided material may be added at any stage of filtration or even after filtration.

Yarns, filaments or other products made in accordance with my invention, while having substantially the appearance of ordinary products, have the important, advantage of developing less tension on guides tensioning devices, knitting needles or other parts of winding, twisting, weaving or knitting machines. Moreover, they have the reduced tendency to out these parts'of textile apparatus while in transit. .As a result of this it is possible to produce from them better textile packages and better woven, warp or circular knit fabrics with less difiiculty and with less wear on the textile machinery."

In order further to illustrate my invention, but

without being limited thereto, the following specific examples are given:

Example I The following ingredients I Parts by weight Aluminum hydrate 1 Cellulose acetate l Acetone 1.5

are kneaded together in a heated kneading machine until a stiff, doughy mass is formed. This mass is then worked between relatively closely spaced heated malaxating rolls until the product is substantially free of the acetone which is a volatile solvent for the cellulose acetate. The resulting sheet is broken into chips or pieces.

A spinning solution is formed by dissolving cellulose acetate in acetone and to this is added some of the above described pieces or chips, the amounts of ingredients being such that the spinning solution contains 1 part of cellulose acetate,

3 parts of "acetone, and 0005 part of aluminum hydrate. The ingredients are thoroughly mixed, are then filtered and the filtered solution is extruded through the fine orifices of a spinning jet into a heated evaporative atmosphere. The resulting filaments are twisted and wound onto a package.

The resulting yarn has the same appearance as similar yarn not containing the aluminum hydrate and possesses the advantageous textile properties above described. If 0.015 part instead of 0.05 part of aluminum hydrate is employed, the resulting yarn has a very slightly duller luster.

Example I] The process of Example I is carried out, but instead of using aluminum hydrate, there is used silicon dioxide prepared by forming silica gel by reacting sodium silicate with hydrochloric acid, washing the gel with water to free it from inorganic salts, and then displacing the water by means of acetone. The resulting acetone-gel is ground and then dispersed in cellulose acetate in the same manner as the aluminum hydrate is in Example I. Results similar to those produced in Example I are obtained. 1

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is merely given by way of illustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the'spirit of my invention.

aaeaees Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Artificial filaments, yarns or other filamentary products characterized by having a greatly reduced running tension, said products comprising filaments or yarns comprising an organic derivative of cellulose and containing uniformly dispersed therein a mass composed of a plastic material and finely divided'insoluble material of substantially the same index of refraction as the organic derivative of cellulose, the amount of insoluble material being insumcient to affect meterially the transparency or luster of the fila ments or yarns, which finely divided material has been reduced to a fine state of subdivision by a squeezing, rubbing or kneading action while.

dispersed in the plastic mass.

2. Artificial filaments, yarns or other filamentary products characterized by having a greatly reduced running tension, said products comprising filaments or yarns comprising cellulose acetate and containing uniformly dispersed therein a mass composed of a plastic material and finely divided insoluble material of substantially the same index of refraction as the cellulose acetate, the amount of insoluble material being insufiicient to affect materially the transparency or luster of the filaments or yarns, which finely divided material has been reduced to a fine state of subdivision by a squeezing, rubbing or kneading action while dispersed in the plastic mass.

3. Artificial filaments, yarns or other filamentary products characterized by having a greatly reduced running tension, said products comprising filaments or yarns comprising an organic derivative of cellulose and containing uniformly dispersed therein a mass composed of a plastic material and from 0.2 to 1.5%, based on the weight of the organic derivative of cellulose, of a finely divided insoluble material of substantially the same index of refraction as the organic derivative of cellulose, the amount of insoluble material being insuiiicient to afiect materially the transparency or luster of the filaments or yarns, which finely divided material has been reduced to a fine state of subdivision by a squeezing, rubbing or kneading action while dispersed in the plastic mass.

4. Artificial filaments, yarns or other filamentary products characterized by having a greatly reduced runningtension, said products compris= ing filaments or yarns comprising cellulose acetate and containing uniformly dispersed therein a mass composed of a plastic material and from 0.2 to 1.5%, based on the weight of the cellulose acetate, of a finely divided insoluble material of substantially the same index of refraction as the cellulose acetate, the amount of insoluble material being insumcient to afiect materially the transparency or luster of the filaments or yams,

which finely divided material has been reduced to by a squeezing, rubbing dispersed in the plastic vlded aluminum hydrate has been reduced to a fine state of subdivision by a'squeezing, rubbing or kneading action while dispersed in the plastic mass.

6. Artificial filaments, yarns or other filamentary products characterized by having a greatly reduced running tension, said products comprising filament or yarns comprising cellulose acetate and containing uniformly dispersed therein a mass composed of a plastic material and finely divided aluminum hydrate, the amount of aluminum hydrate being insufiicient to afiect materially the transparency or luster of the filaments or yarns, which finely divided aluminum hydrate has been reduced to a fine state of subdivision by a squeezing, rubbing or kneading action while dispersed in the plastic mass.

7. Artificial filaments, yarns or other filamentary products characterized by having a greatly reduced running tension, said products comprising filaments or yarns comprising an organic derivative of cellulose and containing uniformly dispersed therein a mass composed of a plastic material and from 0.2 to 1.5%, based on the weight of the organic derivative of cellulose, of finely divided aluminum hydrate, theamount of aluminum hydrate being insufiicient to affect materially the transparency or luster of the filaments or yarns, which finely divided aluminum hydrate has been reduced to a fine state of subdivision by a squeezing, rubbing or kneading action while dispersed in the plastic mass.

8. Artificial filaments, yarns or other filamentary products characterized by having a greatly reduced running tension, said products comprising filaments or yarns comprising cellulose acetate and containing uniformly dispersed therein a mass composed of a plastic material and from 0.2 to 1.5%, based on the weight of the cellulose acetate, of finely divided aluminum hydrate, the amount of aluminum hydrate being insuflicient to afiect materially the transparency or luster of the filaments or yarns, which finely divided aluminum hydrate has been reduced to a fine state of subdivision by a squeezing, rubbing or kneading action while dispersed in the plastic mass.

9. Artificial filaments, yarns or other filamen tary products characterized by having a greatly reduced running tension, said products comprising filaments or yarns comprising cellulose acetate and containing uniformly dispersed therein a mass composed of a plastic material and finely divided silica gel, the amount of silica gel being insufficient to affect materially the transparency or luster of the filaments or yarns, which finely divided silica gel has been reduced to a fine state of subdivision by a squeezing, rubbing or kneading action while dispersed in the plastic mass.

10. Artificial filaments, yarns or other filamentary products characterized by having a greatly reduced running tension, said products comprising filaments or yarns comprising cellulose acetate and containing uniformly dispersed therein a mass composed of a plastic material and from 0.2 to 1.5%, based on the weight of the cellulose acetate, or finely divided silica gel, the amount oi silica gel being insufiicient to afiect materially the transparency or luster of the filaments or yarns, which finely divided silica gel has been reduced to a fine state of subdivision by a squeezing, rubbing or kneading action while dispersed GEORGE SCHNEIDER. 

